Source: Independent.co.ukBy Michael McCarthySaving elephants, as followers of The Independent’s Christmas Appeal will know, seems to be a harder and harder task as the killing in Africa gets more difficult to control. But there is one particular way forward which offers hope, and which at first may seem surprising, and that is through saving sharks.

A giant vegetarian land mammal wouldn’t at first sight seem to have much in common with a deep-sea predator. But elephants and sharks share a cruel curiosity of fate: they both have bodily protuberances which humans find so valuable they will kill both sets of creatures to get them.

With elephants, or course, it’s their ivory tusks, now in booming demand especially among the rising middle class of China. With sharks, it’s their fins, an essential ingredient in what has long been another fad of wealthy Chinese: shark’s fin soup.

While elephants are killed in their thousands, sharks are killed in their millions for the soup. The slaughter is having a drastic effect on shark populations, with 32 per cent of deep-sea species threatened with extinction.

“Shark finning” is a pitiless form of fishing involving cutting off the fins while the fish are still alive and then throwing them back into the sea. The reason is a pair of shark fins can sell in Asia for $700 a kilo – and the less valuable shark bodies would be an encumbrance on a fisherman’s boat.

But in July this year the European Union brought in a regulation ending the practice, and in future all EU boats will have to land sharks with their fins still attached.

Ali Hood, of Britain’s Shark Trust, sees this as a major step forward, not least because the EU is a big player in the shark market, with Spain alone having the third-biggest shark catch in the world, and also because the move will give the EU the moral authority to persuade other nations to do the same. But the biggest obstacle to lessening the global shark slaughter is the demand from China.

In 2006, the inventive conservation body WildAid, based in San Francisco and headed by British-born Peter Knights, began a campaign to make the Chinese public realise that shark’s fin soup represents a big conservation problem.

The campaign took off when in 2009 China’s best-known sports star, basketball player Yao Ming, appeared in a film saying he would no longer eat the soup and used the slogan “Mei yu mai mai, jiu mei yu sha hai”, meaning “When the buying stops, the killing can too.” More....

Source: Punchng.comBy Gbenro AdeoyeBritain’s Prince William has appealed to parents in China to join in the universal fight against poaching of wild animals. The Prince is teaming up with ex-football star, David Beckham, in the campaign against animal poaching, which is widely believed to be common in some parts of Asia. To support the campaign, Prince William and Beckham have recorded a public service announcement for wildlife protection organisation, WildAid. In the video, Prince William called on parents in China to reduce the demand for illegal wildlife products, since the Asian country is the principal market for ivory, rhino horn, shark’s fin and other internationally outlawed items. He said, “We must stop the demand for illegally traded wildlife products within our lifetimes or these amazing animals will be forever wiped from the planet. As a father, our children to know that rhinos are not just a picture in a book.” Beckham added, “We can all do our part by sharing this message with buyers of illegal wildlife products. If you do buy ivory, rhino horn, or shark fin, I urge you to stop and help us bring these senseless killings to an end.” Chinese basketball star, Yao Ming, also starred in the advert, as Prince William joined him in trying his hand at Mandarin. Sharing a sentence, the pair stated in the Chinese language, “When the buying stops… the killing can too.” Chinese movie icon, Jackie Chan, and Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, are among the other celebrities lending their support to the WildAid organisation.Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge Prince William is the second in line to inherit the British throne. More....

Source: Telegraph.co.ukBy Josie Gurney-Read “Time really isn’t on our side at the moment,” says Charlie Mayhew, Chief Executive of the Conservation Charity, Tusk Trust. “The decimation of elephant, rhino and lion numbers is escalating so much that we don’t have a lot of time left." Rhino poaching in South Africa hasn’t slowed. In 2007, 13 rhinos were poached, now it is estimated that, on average, three are lost every day, with an estimated loss of around 800 this year. This means that, annually, South Africa is losing four per cent of its rhino and much of the poaching is actually occurring in the best protected areas. In April this year, it was reported thatthe last 15 known rhinos in Mozambique were shot dead in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. While demand for the horn continues, a solution to the issue is being sought by conservationists. Suggestions have included; de-horning rhinos under anaesthetic, legalising the trade, putting dye in the horns, stricter law enforcement and decreasing demand through better education. Twenty years ago, only 2,000 black rhinos remained, while conservation efforts have brought the species back from the brink of extinction, to an estimated 5,000, the issue remains serious today. It was with this in mind that in August this year, Worldwide Experience, the education arm of the Mantis hotel group, launched a competition in partnership with Tusk Trust and the Born Free Foundation, giving 16-19 year olds the chance to submit a group video to highlight the plight of the rhino in South Africa; showing what they would do to further conservation efforts. Due to demand, the competition has recently extended the deadline, so groups now have until 21 March 2014 to submit entries. Alongside the competition, a school curriculum has been developed by Digital Explorer, with a selection of materials aimed at both GCSE and A level geography students. Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop, founder of Digital Explorer says: “The relationship between humans and the environment is an important part of the curriculum. As the population grows, young people need to have the information to make decisions about what the planet will look like in the future." More....

My Lords, a few years ago the subject of this debate might have been regarded as rather marginal in terms of importance; that is no longer the case. In introducing this debate I should declare an interest as a Friend of the Whitley Fund for Nature ,a charity concerned with conservation world-wide.Illegal trade in wildlife has grown to become a massive global industry. It is said to be worth at least 90 billion dollars per year. It is ranked as the fourth largest global illegal activity after narcotics, counterfeiting and human trafficking and ahead of oil, art, gold, human organs, small arms and diamonds. Illegal ivory trade activity worldwide has more than doubled since 2007 and is now over three times larger than it was in 1998, its highest level in two decades with ivory fetching up to $1,000 a pound or $2,205 a kilogram on the streets of Beijing. The worst year on record for elephant ivory seizures was 2011 when almost 40 tons of smuggled ivory was seized. In the last decade 11,000 forest elephants have been killed in one park alone, Gabon’s Minkebe National Park, with a total population of forest elephants down 62% in the past 10 years. The kill rate of elephants now exceeds the birth rate – a trend that if not reversed could lead to the extinction of the African elephant from some areas in the next few years. In 2012 a record 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa up by almost 50% from 2011 figures. In 2013 the toll continued to rise with 201 rhinos killed in Kruger National Park alone. A sub-species of the black rhino was declared extinct in the wild in West Africa in 2011. A seizure in July 2013 in the Czech Republic of 24 white rhino horns was the largest ever in the EU.It led to the arrest of 16 suspects in connection with wildlife trafficking. Czech authorities announced that an international gang had been importing rhino horns illegally into the Czech Republic from where they were to be shipped to Asia for sale. Reports were that the gang used bogus hunters to kill the animals in South Africa who then applied for export/import permits to move the horns under the pretext of being personal trophies.

According to Interpol, the US Department of State, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and others, the same routes used to smuggle wildlife across countries and continents are often used to smuggle weapons, drugs and people with the same culprits frequently involved. Indeed wildlife crime often occurs hand in hand with other offences like fraud, corruption, money laundering, theft and murder. More....

Source: AFW.orgWildAid, Save the Elephants, and the African Wildlife Foundation kicked off a campaign to reduce ivory demand today at the Shanghai Pudong Shangri-La Hotel. Former NBA star Yao Ming and WildAid co-founder Peter Knights called on China to help raise awareness of elephant poaching, reduce the demand for ivory, and protect endangered wildlife. The conservation groups also announced an anti-ivory public service campaign, to be televised internationally in 2014, featuring Yao Ming, American actor Edward Norton,China’s leading actress Li Bing Bing, Congolese NBA great Dikembe Mutombo, and current NBA star Jeremy Lin. China’s rapid economic development continues to create a burgeoning middle class that can afford endangered wildlife products such as ivory. The current demand for ivory claims the lives of as many as 25,000 African elephants annually. "To protect these endangered animals, we must reduce the market demand," said Yao Ming. “When people in China know what’s happening with the illegal ivory trade, they will say no to these products.” Recent surveys indicate a large portion of China’s population is unaware of the death toll to create ivory and rhino horn products, yet a greater number of residents support government enforced bans. (Read the ivory and rhino horn surveys.) "The illegal ivory trade threatens these already endangered animals, negatively impacts Africa’s tourism industry, and reportedly funds terror groups,” said WildAid’s Peter Knights. “The urgency of this crisis demands that we launch and grow this campaign.” The conservation groups also introduced a "Do not buy ivory" web page where the public can upload photos, pledge not to buy ivory, and show their support for wildlife conservation. “Africa’s elephants can no longer support the world’s addiction to ivory,” said African Wildlife Foundation CEO Patrick Bergin. “As the number one market for ivory in the world, China has a critical role to play in helping reduce demand for ivory. Owning ivory is simply not worth the bloody cost to elephants.” “China holds the future of Africa’s elephants in her hands. With Chinese leadership, elephants have a chance of a harmonious future with the modern world. But if the buying continues, the outlook for this magnificent species is bleak,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, CEO of Save the Elephants.

Source: Looktothestars.orgThe Duke of Cambridge, David Beckham, and Yao Ming are speaking out as fathers against illegal wildlife trade. “As a father I want our children to know that rhinos are not just a picture in a book,” says The Duke of Cambridge. The trio have joined forces with WildAid to protect elephants, rhinos, and sharks for future generations. In September of this year they met in London to film two messages that will air globally, with targeted outreach in China and Vietnam, beginning in January 2014 as part of WildAid’s demand reduction campaign and the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife Collaboration. The first message was released to the media earlier today at a press conference in Shanghai featuring Yao Ming and WildAid Executive Director Peter Knights. A second message focusing on rhino horn will be released in February.The Duke of Cambridge said, “We must stop the demand for illegally traded wildlife products within our lifetimes or these amazing animals will be forever wiped from the planet. As a father I want our children to know that rhinos are not just a picture in a book.” Poaching is on the rise as demand increases with economic growth in Asia. South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs reported on November 27 that 891 rhinos were killed so far in 2013 compared to 2007’s total of 13.“We can all do our part by sharing this message with buyers of illegal wildlife products,” said David Beckham. “If you do buy ivory, rhino horn, or shark fin I urge you to stop and help us bring these senseless killings to an end.” Recent surveys indicate a large portion of China’s population is unaware of the death toll to create ivory and rhino horn products, yet a greater number of residents support government enforced bans. (Read the ivory and rhino horn surveys.)“We must raise awareness and encourage action if we are going to stop the demand for these products,” said former NBA Star Yao Ming, an iconic figure in China. More....

Source: Forbes.comBy Russell FlanneryChinese basketball star Yao Ming kicked off his latest campaign with wildlife protection group WildAid, this time to reduce ivory demand and raise awareness of elephant poaching.Yao, a past member of the Forbes China Celebrity list and Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy List, appeared with WildAid co-founder Peter Knights at a press conference in Shanghai. “To protect these endangered animals, we must reduce market demand,” said Yao. “When people in China know what is happening to the ivory trade, they will say no to these products.” Current demand kills 25,000 African elephants annually, according to a WildAid press release. Yao has previously supported efforts to reduce Chinese demand for shark fin.

Source: Dailymail.co.ukBy Martin FletcherFew sights are as repulsive as that of a poached elephant or rhinoceros carcass rotting in the African bush. Their heads have been hacked with axes to remove the tusks or horns. Their eye sockets are empty. Their bodies, or what remains of them after the vultures, jackals and hyenas have eaten their fill, seethe with maggots and flies. The beasts’ bodily fluids have turned the ground to mud, and the stench is appalling. The contrast with the majesty of those animals, and with the natural beauty all around, can easily overwhelm you.That is what happened to Prince William who, while preparing for a television interview in September, was shown a video of a rhino bleeding to death. His eyes brimmed with tears. ‘He was very, very emotional. He just about held it together,’ said an aide. On screen, the Prince explained: ‘Wildlife is incredibly vulnerable and I feel a real protective instinct, more so now that I’m a father, which is why I get emotional about it.’Now he has thrown himself into the fight for their protection from an illicit trade that not only leaves a trail of heartbreaking destruction but which increasingly is being used to fund a deadly assortment of terror groups. In a statement to The Mail on Sunday, William said: ‘In the face of the threat to these species it is natural to feel powerless, but I have seen the extraordinary impact of advances in protection on the ground and the power of some media in reducing demand for these products. ‘Each one of us can help by raising our voices to support them. We have to be the generation that stopped the illegal wildlife trade.’Last week William joined Prince Charles – who initiated their concern – at Clarence House to unveil their most ambitious venture yet: a government-sponsored London summit in February.Together with David Cameron, William Hague and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, they will urge heads of government or foreign ministers of 50 countries to fight back against those destroying Africa’s natural heritage to feed the avarice of Asia, where tusks and horns end up. More....

Source: Theguardian.comBy Damian CarringtonDavid Cameron will host the highest level global summit to date on combating the illegal wildlife trade in London.The summit next February, to which 50 heads of state have been invited, aims to tackle the $19bn-a-year illegal trade in endangered animals, such as elephants and rhinos, by delivering an unprecedented political commitment along with an action plan and the mobilisation of resources.The Prince of Wales and his son the Duke of Cambridge, who will both attend the summit, have previously highlighted the strong links between wildlife poaching, international criminal syndicates and terrorism and threats to national security. "We face one of the most serious threats to wildlife ever, and we must treat it as a battle – because it is precisely that," said Prince Charles in May.Elephant ivory and rhino horn are worth more than illegal diamonds or gold, and the proceeds have used by rebel groups in African countries, such as al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Lords resistance army in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Heads of state from many African countries are expected to attend and the countries where the products are sold, including China and Vietnam, will be represented, though the level of representation is not yet finalised.The summit will be chaired by foreign secretary William Hague and environment secretary Owen Paterson. In September, Hague called the illegal trade "absolutely shocking" and said it was an "issue that affects us all." Paterson visited Kenya this month and saw elephants killed by poachers. He will visit China with Cameron next month.The level of wildlife crime has soared in recent years, driven by demand form the rapidly expanding middle classes in Asia who value tiger, elephant and rhino products as status symbols.In South Africa 13 rhinos were killed in 2007, but the tally to date in 2013 is 860. 2012 was the worst year for ivory seizures, with the equivalent of the tusks of 30,000 elephants confiscated. More....

Source: Businessinsider.comBy Douglas MainUntil about 2,000 years ago, no human had set foot on Madagascar. This wonderland of wildlife east of Africa is home to all of the world's lemurs, a diverse group of primates, most of which have fox-like faces and large eyes. Lemurs descend from animals that arrived on the isolated island between 50 million and 60 million years ago. Since humans arrived, about 15 to 20 of these lemur species have gone extinct, likely due to habitat loss and hunting, including species whose males grew nearly as large as gorillas. But these die-offs happened over the course of hundreds and thousands of years. Humans are impacting the island at a much faster pace now. As Malagasy populations rise, humans threaten the remaining species of lemurs and thousands of other species with extinction at an accelerating rate, said University of Illinois primatologist Paul Garber. Currently, 93 lemur species are endangered, critically endangered or threatened, mostly due to the clearing of the island's forests, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a global environmental organization. That's 91 percent of all lemur species for which data is available.Deforestation has sped up in the second half of the 20th century, and in the last 60 years, half of the island's remaining forests have been cleared, according to a 2007 study in the journal Biology Letters. During that time, the country's population has quadrupled, according to the World Bank, a global financial institution that offers loans to developing countries. But it's not just the animals' homes that are vanishing — sometimes, the animals themselves are taken. Since the breakdown of civil order following a 2009 coup in the country, species such as collared lemurs have been taken from forests to be sold in the illegal pet trade, and they have been killed by hunters to be eaten as bush meat, according to various news reports.The plight of Madagascar's lemurs is just one example of how a rising population of humans is contributing to the sixth-largest mass extinction in the history of the planet, most biologists say. According to the IUCN, 20,000 species of animals and plants are considered at high risk for extinction, meaning there is a good chance they could die out if steps aren't taken to ensure their survival. If species continue to die out at current rates, more than 75 percent of all species currently on Earth could go extinct within a few centuries, according to a 2011 study in the journal Nature.

The extinction rate is estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times the natural "background" rate as a result of human activities, said Stacy Small-Lorenz, a conservation scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group whose mission is to protect the natural environment. More....

Source: Goodnature.nathab.comBy Wendy Worrall RedalTwo years ago when I was on safari in Botswana, I saw my first herd of wild elephants. We heard them first, a low, rumbling thunder in the distance. Then, out of the forest they emerged, the great gray pack crashing through a pool of standing water, so close they sent spray into our open-sided safari truck. The herd, at least 50 strong, trundled on through the wooded marsh, and we grinned as we watched a youngster struggle to keep up, running at full clip and trumpeting shrilly as if to say, “Wait for me! Wait for me!” Later we would spend a half-hour watching a lone male bull eating—tearing branches off the mopane trees with his enormous trunk, curling it to hold them, stripping leaves and chomping noisily, just feet away. I had never seen such a magnificent beast. He was enormous. His skin was deeply furrowed and crazed with creases. His tusks were grand. If there was ever an emblem of the African wild, this massive elephant was it. Yet I was equally enchanted by the week-old infant we later saw along the banks of the Chobe River, so tiny it could take shelter in the shade beneath its mother’s belly.Being in the presence of wild elephants held a special magic for me. And so it was with anguish that I watched the ivory remains of some 2,000 elephants destroyed by the U.S. government last week, an event I was privileged to witness alongside senior government officials and representatives from WWF and other conservation organizations.WITNESSING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S. IVORY STOCKPILE The crush consigned some six tons of confiscated illegal ivory – the full U.S. stockpile – to a massive rock crusher erected at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge outside Denver. The event, designed for symbolic impact, was meant as an unequivocal statement to the world that the United States will not support ivory trafficking in any form.The pile of ivory before us, as we stood on the plains beneath a sky too bright and too blue for such a somber event, was sobering. There were giant tusks weathered brown with age, white tusks polished smooth, tusks carved with intricate scenes and images. On an adjacent table were ivory figurines – many were Buddhas, crafted for the largely Asian buyers’ market. And nearby was a rectangular glass bin filled five feet high with ivory jewelry and trinkets: bracelets, earrings, talismans – a full ton contained herein alone. The first tusks were placed, silently, reverently, into the steel bucket of a front-end loader by representatives of the conservation groups on hand. More....

Source: Royalcentral.co.ukOn Tuesday 26 November, The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge will jointly be in attendance for the “United for Wildlife” meeting at the Zoological Society of London. Prince William by way of his charity has organised an exceptional partnership with seven of the top name groups in conversation along with the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. The partnership brings together Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International, International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF-UK, the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Foundation. This is an unparalleled group that will aim to fight banned wildlife trafficking. In September at the Tusk Conservation Awards, William as president of the organisation announced the partnership and its name “United for Wildlife.” He did not waste a moment to get the word out, also recording two public service announcements a few days after the Awards. The PSA’s for the charity WildAid were to target illegal wildlife goods. One of the announcements William recorded with footballing friend, David Beckham and the other with retired basketball player, Yao Ming. “The threats to our natural heritage are extensive, but I believe that this collaboration of the best minds in conservation will provide the impetus for a renewed commitment and action to protect endangered species and habitats for future generations,” William comment on the United for Wildlife website. This past May, father and son joined together for a conference at St. James’s Palace to discuss the illegal wildlife trade. More....

Source: Blogs.scientificamerican.comBy Kate WongOn a clear day outside Denver, dust filled the air surrounding an industrial rock crusher as it pulverized nearly six tons of confiscated elephant ivory. Loader trucks dumped batch after batch of whole tusks, elaborately carved figurines, bracelets and other baubles into the giant blue crusher, which spit them out as a stream of fragments that resembled remnants of seashells pounded by heavy surf. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) destroyed the 25 years’ worth of ivory seizures—a quantity that could command perhaps $12 million on the black market–to signal to the world that the U.S. will not tolerate elephant poaching or wildlife crime in general. For many attendees, the crush was also a funeral of sorts for the more than 2,000 elephants that were slaughtered for the ivory that ended up here in Colorado. The U.S. is not the first country to destroy its seized ivory. In 1989, Kenya responded to rampant elephant poaching by burning its stockpile. More recently, with poaching surging to record levels of 30,000 elephants or more a year, Gabon and the Philippines have destroyed their ivory, too. The U.S. ivory crush on November 14 followed President Obama’s July 1 executive order calling on government agencies to step up efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade.Concerns over the trade have been escalating not only because of the dramatic spike in elephant deaths but because of who is doing the killing. In contrast to the elephant poaching crisis of the 1980s, which resulted mainly from opportunistic hunting carried out by individuals, the current crisis is the work of transnational criminal syndicates that traffic in wildlife just as they traffic in humans, drugs and arms. Profits from the illegal sale of ivory, rhinoceros horn and other wildlife products–a $19-billion-a-year industry–are now known to fund terrorist and other extremist groups. Yet whether the destruction of ivory stockpiles will actually help stamp out the trade is a matter of some debate. Critics contend that it may actually have the opposite effect. By reducing the ivory supply, such events will drive the price up and thus stimulate the poaching of even more elephants, so the argument goes. Experts from government and nongovernment organizations who spoke at the U.S. ivory crush event defended the decision to destroy the stockpile. Peter Knights of WildAid, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in San Francisco, observed that people who argue against the destruction of ivory stockpiles think that having a legal supply is the answer to the poaching problem. But attempts to flood the market with ivory in the past have had disastrous results, actually increasing poaching rather than curbing it. “I think we have to look at history and we have to learn this lesson,” he said. “People need to understand this is just as heinous a crime as consumption of heroin or something like that. We don’t put heroin back on the market when we seize it.” More....

Sourc: IFAW.orgBy Grace Ge GabrielAt the invitation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, I am flying into Denver, Colorado today to witness the destruction of the elephant ivory seized in the United States. Nearly six tons of elephant ivory confiscated from illegal trade will be destroyed by crushing at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. The symbolic ivory crush signifies the US commitment to combat wildlife trafficking as outlined in President Obama’s new Executive Order in July.The organization I work for, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) strongly supports governments to destroy their stockpiles of confiscated ivory for two reasons: both as a symbolic gesture to highlight the plight of tens of thousands of elephants that are being killed each year to supply the ivory trade, but also as a way to ensure that seized ivory does not re-enter the market. IFAW believes the destruction of confiscated ivory will send a strong signal to consumers everywhere that buying ivory is immoral and wrong, and send a tough message to poachers and traffickers that their actions will not be tolerated. The snow-capped mountains and the crisp dry air of the mile high city bring back memories of another symbolic destruction of wildlife parts from another species, on another continent. A decade ago, at the Kekexili Nature Reserve in China’s western plateau, elevation 3-miles high (16,400 ft), I twice joined Chinese government officials in setting fire to thousands of confiscated Tibetan antelope pelts. Tibetan antelope or chiru ((Pantholops hodgsonii), a highly endangered species endemic to the Qinghai Tibet plateau, were heavily poached in China for their wool, which is smuggled into India to be woven into a shawl highly-prized for its lightness, softness and warmth that it is called “shahtoosh” (“King of Wool”). The sharp demand for Shahtoosh shawls in the luxury markets in Europe and America stimulated poaching, which saw tens of thousands of chiru killed a year. More....

Source: Breitbart.comDemand for shark fin soup, a delicacy in China, has fallen sharply in the country thanks to a campaign against it by conservationists, the official media said.

Government and industry statistics show shark fin soup, also once regarded as a social status symbol, is no longer fashionable after conservationists showed millions of sharks are killed each year to meet the demand for the soup, raising the threat of their extinction.

The CCTV report said the fall in demand could have wider implications for other endangered wildlife.

The campaign to promote public awareness about the shark trade was joined by a coalition of celebrities including former NBA star Yao Ming.

The government has also set up a campaign banning the soup from official banquets, the report said.

May Mei, chief representative in China of Wildaid, an NGO working for wildlife protection, said effects of the campaign have been dramatic.

"Last year, after the Chinese government released a three-year ban on eating sharp fin soup, the decline is huge. The consumption declined by 50 to 70 percent in the past two years," said May Mei.

Earlier this year, Sea Shepherd, an international non-profit marine wildlife conservation group, reported discovering "shark-mongers of death" in Hong Kong drying thousands of shark fins on a roof. Gary Stokes, its Hong Kong coordinator, wrote on the group's web site that shark fins are sliced off the creatures, which are then thrown back into the waters to drown or bleed to death. The group said photographs posted on its website showed more than 10,000 shark fins drying on a roof in a quiet Hong Kong neighborhood. More....

Source: Seashepherd.orgMid-October, I found myself panting up and down the steep cobblestone streets of colonial Quito. The 10-hour plane ride and the 9000+ feet elevation of Ecuador’s capital were however not the only thing robbing me of my breath. Quito’s beautiful old town represents one of the largest, least-altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas and was in 1978 the first city to be declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO. But I was not there as a tourist, I had travelled to Quito to pick up Manotas. A name, I was told, that means ‘big hands’, but you won’t find that translation in any dictionary. ‘Big paws’ would be more appropriate as Manotas is a 7-year-old yellow Lab. He was born in Colombia on June 25, 2006. In 2008 Sea Shepherd acquired six police dogs in Colombia and Manotas was one of them. WildAid along with Conservation International selected another four dogs. After extensive training by the elite Ecuadorian police unit Grupo de Intervención y Rescate (GIR) on the mainland, Manotas and the nine other dogs were transferred to the Galapagos Islands in January 2009 where, after additional training by the environmental police, Unidad de Protección del Medio Ambiente (UPMA), they became part of the canine squad combating the smuggling of shark fins and sea cucumbers and wildlife trafficking in the Galapagos. The Galapagos Islands, officially known as the Archipiélago de Colón, are a group of volcanic islands straddling the equator over 900 km west of continental Ecuador. Its unique wildlife inspired Charles Darwin’s ideas on evolution, natural selection and adaptation. The islands have been dubbed the most sacred ecosystem on the planet. Since 2000, Sea Shepherd has maintained a strong, positive presence in the Galapagos Islands.The Galapagos is our line in the sand. If humanity cannot protect such a unique and diverse ecosystem, we will not be able to protect any ecosystem. More....

Source: World.time.comBy Peter LiljasRide the subway in a Chinese metropolis like Beijing or Shanghai and chances are you’ll come across an ad depicting mutilated Chinese characters.Xiang, the first character, means elephant, except that lacking some strokes, it is as if the animal is missing the tusks. The second and third characters stand for tiger and bear — but the missing strokes make them seem to be losing bones and gall bladder. The fourth and last character, ren, or human, is cut in half. The ad is intended to stifle demand for the body parts of these wild animals, which in China are commonly thought to possess naturopathic benefits (or, in the case of ivory, ornamental ones). The market has soared on the back of the country’s growing wealth, and that has been a disaster for the most sought-after animals. This year has been particularly dark, especially for ivory, the trade in which has been banned since 1989 by an international treaty. In Africa, around 100 elephants are being killed every day, by poisoning, machine guns or rocket-propelled grenade launchers fired from the ground or helicopters. Such poaching is feeding terrorist groups like al-Shabab, who conducted the deadly assault on the Westgate mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in late September. In Hong Kong, one of the trade’s main transit points, seizures of ivory have climbed alarmingly high, from 2,900 kg for the whole of 2010 to 7,200 kg seized from the start of 2013 to mid-October. This grim haul so far this year amounts to 3,349 tusks respectively, or the equivalent of almost 1,675 dead elephants.Part of the problem is that many Chinese are unaware that killing is involved. “The Chinese word for ivory, xiangya, literally means elephant’s teeth,” says Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia regional director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). “It has led to a very deep and wide misconception that ivory can be harvested without killing elephants.” More....

By Michael AppelAs South Africa’s rhino poaching statistics rapidly approach the 800 mark, awareness campaigns in China around stopping shark finning could inadvertently be a positive development for Africa’s rhinos and elephants under a poaching barrage.

The Conservation Action Trust says recent awareness campaigns in China regarding the onslaught on sharks is encouraging news for advocates of non-trade solutions to the elephant and rhino poaching crisis across Africa.

Research conducted by WildAid and Chinese government agencies shows demand for shark fin soup in Chinese restaurants has dropped substantially due to the success of demand-reduction campaigns and strong action by the Chinese government.

Executive director of WildAid Peter Knights said: “People said it was impossible to change China, but the evidence we are now getting says consumption of shark fin soup in China is down by 50% to 70% in the last two years. It is a myth that people in Asia don’t care about wildlife. Consumption is based on ignorance rather than malice.”

These results are extremely significant as they disprove the arguments of pro-trade lobbyists who continue to claim that demand reduction campaigns will not work.

Chinese sports stars, business leaders and other celebrities teamed up with WildAid for a two-year awareness and education programme which focused on the implications for sharks of eating shark fin soup.

The Chinese government has also played a crucial role in driving down demand by banning this once sought-after delicacy from restaurant menus. More....

A new public-service campaign in China will ask potential ivory and rhino horn buyers to see the victims of these illicit trades in a new light: as the "pandas of Africa." The posters are a part of WildAid's "Say No to Ivory and Rhino Horn" campaign, which was launched earlier in the year.

"These new works aim to enhance China's current conservation efforts, shining a light on their accomplishments while asking them to broaden the impact of their kindness," says WildAid Executive Director Peter Knights.

The new posters, which also include an additional "blood" ivory and rhino horn design, were created by well-known artist and conservationist, Asher Jay.

"By transforming consumers into conservationists, we can directly impact the future of Africa’s rhinos and elephants," says Jay. "Cultural change is a contagious phenomenon, and comes with a tipping point—it starts with a few, gets adopted by many, and is then condemned by all. It is my daily hope that rhino and elephant."

Elephants and rhinos in Africa are being decimated for the illegal wildlife trade driven largely by demand in China and other East Asian countries. Experts have estimated that in recent years around 30,000 elephants have been butchered every year by poachers for their tusks. Rhino mortalities are fewer, but largely because there are less rhinos to target: already this year, South Africa has lost 790 rhinos—a new record for the country.

The underground cartels that fuel the illegal wildlife trade, worth an estimated $19 billion, are also often linked human trafficking, drugs, and arms sales. Most recently, experts have noted that terrorist group Al-Shabaab is in part fundraising its activities—including the massacre in the Westgate Shopping mall in Nairobi which left over 70 dead—by killing elephants for ivory. Posters.

Source: Bulawayo24.comBy Francis GarrardRecent positive feedback regarding the onslaught on sharks is extremely encouraging news for advocates of non-trade solutions to the elephant and rhino poaching crisis across Africa. According to research conducted by WildAid and Chinese government agencies, demand for shark fin soup in Chinese restaurants has dropped substantially due to the success of demand reduction campaigns and strong action by the Chinese government.

"People said it was impossible to change China, but the evidence we are now getting says consumption of shark fin soup in China is down by 50% to 70% in the last two years," said Peter Knights, executive director of WildAid. "It is a myth that people in Asia don't care about wildlife," Knights said. "Consumption is based on ignorance rather than malice."

These results are extremely significant as they refute the arguments of pro-trade lobbyists who continue to claim that demand reduction campaigns will not work. Comprising a coalition of Chinese sports stars, business leaders and other celebrities teamed up with WildAid, two years of awareness and education programmes focusing on the implications for sharks and the environment have made eating shark fin soup undesirable. The government has also played a crucial role by prohibiting this once sought-after delicacy from official menus.

And this is exactly the formula anti-trade advocates are promoting as the most realistic long-term solution for rhino horn and ivory. Chinese, Vietnamese and other consumers of these products must be made aware of the implications of their consumption patterns, and the governments of these countries must be encouraged or coerced into understanding the roles they play in both driving the poaching and becoming involved in securing solutions - kill the demand and you kill the poaching.

Perhaps this should be on the agenda at the forthcoming Emergency African Elephant summit by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Government of Botswana in Gaborone from 2-4 December this year.

Once a rare delicacy served to honored guests, shark fin soup had become so popular among China’s fast-growing elite in recent years that it was pushing some shark species close to extinction.

Now, there is fresh hope for sharks around the world. The demand for shark fins has plunged, providing a rare victory for conservationists that could have wider implications for other endangered wildlife.Thanks to a former NBA star, a coalition of Chinese business leaders, celebrities and students, and some unlikely investigative journalism, eating shark fin soup is no longer fashionable here. But what really tipped the balance was a government campaign against extravagance that has seen the soup banned from official banquets.“People said it was impossible to change China, but the evidence we are now getting says consumption of shark fin soup in China is down by 50 to 70 percent in the last two years,” said Peter Knights, executive director of WildAid, a San Francisco-based group that has promoted awareness about the shark trade. The drop is also reflected in government and industry statistics. “It is a myth that people in Asia don’t care about wildlife,” Knights said. “Consumption is based on ignorance rather than malice. ”The dramatic expansion in China’s middle and upper classes has transformed the country into a major driver of global wildlife trafficking. The Obama administration is so concerned about Chinese demand for endangered wildlife that it made the subject an important part of its bilateral dialogue this year. More....

The US has promised to destroy its ivory stockpile on October 8, 2013, as part of a commitment to build further momentum towards ending the illegal trade in ivory... The move seeks to highlight how ivory trinkets have no value in a civilised world and instead their production and purchase only contributes to the killing of elephants. "An elephant loses its life to poaching, on average, every 15 minutes..." explains Jeff Flocken, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "The battle to save elephants cannot be fought in isolation... he says. "The US is calling for countries to stand together in the global effort to combat the current poaching crisis and the illegal wildlife trade...” IFAW has praised the US and other nations' leadership on this issue, drawing attention to the plight of elephants in recent years that have been facing increasing threats as the illegal trade in ivory has escalated... Just in Africa 35,000 elephants were killed illegally in 2012... The US stockpile of raw and carved ivory weighs 5.4 tonnes and will be crushed at a location outside Denver, Colorado. Illegal wildlife trade generates an estimated USD 19 billion per year, says IFAW, an enormous criminal trade that has even been linked to international terrorism... More....

Dzanga Bai is a magical place of natural wonder. It is on the Central African Republic's southwest border with the Republic of Congo and is widely considered the most important gathering place for forest elephants in the entire Congo basin. For decades -- and probably centuries -- elephants by the hundreds from across the region have congregated there, reconnecting with family members and drinking the mineral-rich waters.

Last May, a group of heavily armed men, believed to be linked to the Seleka rebel group, entered Dzanga Bai and slaughtered a reported two dozen elephants. By the time Dzanga Bai's elephant carcasses were discovered, the perpetrators were gone, leaving in their wake a horrific crime scene of heads carved up for their precious ivory. Tusks like these, typically destined for Asian markets, where growing demand has quickly driven up prices, have in recent years presented a new opportunity for quick cash to finance the operations of armed gangs from the Central African Republic east to Somalia. It is now widely understood that groups ranging from Darfur's Janjaweed to Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army have turned to this revenue source.The growth of these groups, with funds from illegal wildlife trafficking, is destabilizing African governments even as it devastates populations of elephants, rhinos and other high value wildlife. Operating through terror and intimidation, roving rebel armies undermine democratic governance and responsible resource management while devastating regional economies through disruptions to tourism and local livelihoods. In meetings in the United States, Asia and Africa this year, we have listened as leaders have shared their growing anxiety. The new poachers are tied to criminal syndicates. Rifles and machetes have been enhanced or replaced with helicopters, night visions goggles, sophisticated telecommunications and automatic weapons. Local communities are terrified and national governments fear losing large swaths of territory to these gangs. More....

Several years ago, Marie and I began to mourn the tragic dismembering of elephant society across Africa, an act that caused us to cry for the future of the greatest land mammal on earth. As we heard about the rising tide of deaths, elephants wept and mourned for their kind. Elephant society and culture were and continue to be shattered. It was the beginning of the second phase of destruction in contemporary history, the first beginning in the 1980s when 600,000 were annihilated to feed the world’s greed for ivory souvenirs. In 2011 alone, 30,000 elephants were mutilated for trinkets to be sold in the Asian market. The great heart of Africa was being laid waste, not for billiard balls and piano keys as Stanley once wrote, but for toothpicks and statuettes across Asia, with China the main culprit. In 2009, in response to the suffering these great animals were experiencing, we published Walking Thunder – In the Footsteps of the African Elephant by Merrell London, prefaced by the remarkable Dame Daphne Sheldrick, whose compassion for the elephants of Kenya and its orphans is a testament to the best of the human species.

We approached many magazine and news outlets to write about the resurgent poaching issue in 2009 and 2010, but it was Vanity Fair that finally understood the enormous implications of what was occurring across the continent. It took five months of talks, but they finally said they would cover it. In November 2010, they sent the gifted Alex Shoumatoff, who covered the death of Diane Fossey, to Africa to write Agony and Ivory, one of the most scorching and all-encompassing articles on a single species in the history of journalism. In it, Alex mentions the stirrings of an extinction vortex that, like a modern-day Scylla and Carybdis, was swallowing the last great herds of Africa. The article went viral and galvanized the world. National Geographic followed 14 months later with their heart-wrenching cover story Blood Ivory by Bryan Christy, which further galvanized the planet to a reality that has now plunged a stake in the conscience of the world, the slaughter of the innocents. The searing image of a rotting body was a wake-up call to the world that this action and thousands like it hold a mirror to humanity at its most depraved and barbaric. A plethora of other articles and campaigns have since arisen around the world. The planet is now firmly entrenched in Battle for the Elephants, the documentary shown nationally in February and directed by John Heminway. What few realize is that the battle for the elephant is also a battle for the human soul. We walked out of Africa alongside elephants, they helped us find water in times of drought, and their bodies have fed us for countless millennia. We are indebted to the elephant as we are to few, perhaps no, other species in our evolution. More....

Conservation groups announced today a three-year $80 million Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action that will bring together NGOs, governments, and concerned citizens to stop the slaughter of Africa’s elephants, which are being decimated due to poaching for ivory. The Commitment Makers and their partners commit to funding and facilitating partnerships to advance a new three-pronged strategy that will catalyze a global movement to coordinate and leverage influence, constituencies, and resources to protect key elephant populations from poaching while reducing trafficking and demand for ivory. Funding for this commitment has been provided by myriad public and private sources, including U.S., European, and African governments; along with multi-lateral institutions, foundations, and concerned individuals. Nations joining in the commitment include: Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, South Sudan, Malawi, and Uganda.

These funds will be used to support national governments to scale up anti-poaching enforcement at the 50 priority elephant sites including hiring and supporting an additional 3,100 park guards. In addition, anti-trafficking efforts will be increased by strengthening intelligence networks and penalties for violations and adding training and sniffer dog teams at 10 key transit points. New demand reduction efforts will be implemented in 10 consumer markets over the next three years.

Further, leaders from African nations led a call for other countries to adopt trade moratoria on all commercial ivory imports, exports and domestic sales of ivory products until African elephant populations are no longer threatened by poaching. More....